Initial B
by ChaiThai
Summary: A little series of fiction where Takumi doesn't seem to get the chance to race... please R&R!


This fanfiction is part of what I'm hoping will become a series of races where Takumi dosen't race. Please read on for future refrence.  
  
Battle 01-FD3S Type R vs. AE86 Trueno  
  
"Hold on a second, there's a car coming up the hill. We should let him pass first."  
  
"Don't worry about it, this is a public road so there will be cars coming up and..."  
  
Keisuke Takahashi. snatched up the radio. "Wait a second! What kind of car was it?"  
  
The radio hissed to life with the answer. "I dunno, something old and panda colored. A hachi-roku, I think"  
  
"He's here!" Keisuke thought to himself.  
  
-As the hachi-roku rounded the hairpins on is way uphill, Nakazato watched intently as he heard the car making its approach. As it came into view and cleared the corner he stood at, his eyes went glazed and his jaw slack, in disbelief. A moment or two after the car left he declared "The RedSuns have lost today's race, if that hachi-roku races."  
  
One of his teammates looked at him in surprise. "Huh? To an old beater like that?"  
  
Smirking, Nakazato stood in deep thought. "There's a certain aura that only the best drivers give off, and only the best can see. Takahashi Ryosuke definetly has it. His brother Keisuke almost does, but his attitude gets in the way."  
  
"But that hachi-roku..." he muttered out loud, "has the brightest I've ever seen."  
  
-As the old Trueno pulled up to the summit and past the starting line to make a U-turn, it stopped as Ikatani ran to the window. The door slowly opened and the driver stepped out, cigarette in hand.  
  
Ikatani looke relieved. "I'm glad you came, Bunta-sensei."  
  
Taking a deep drag, he answered "Well, I didn't plan on it this morning, but a little development earlier today brought me here."  
  
-Back at home, Takumi sat on his bed, nursing a broken arm. "Stupid soccer practice," he muttered. He had to call Mogi now and cancel his trip tomorrow.  
  
-As Keisuke came to introduce himself to Bunta, he thought to himself "This is much older than I expected...I thought someone like my brother would step out of that seat. But no matter, his reflexes are probably shot. This will be a walk in the park."  
  
"I'm Takahashi Keisuke."  
  
After a drag, he answered. "Fujiwara Bunta."  
  
A bit of comotion later, and both drivers were lined up and ready to go. Keisuke looked over at his opponent...and was shocked to see he still had a lit cigarette dangling from his lips.  
  
"What the hell?" Keisuke thought. "The ignorant old man..."  
  
As the countdown started, both drivers revved their engines. "5...4...3...2...1...GO!"  
  
The FD and hachi-roku peeled out, tearing towards the first corner. As Keisuke watched the car go smaller and smaller in his rear view mirror, he thought "It's a shame we can't battle in the corners, but a time trial is a time trial." Both cars approached the first corner and Keisuke used the drift techniques he had practiced so much on Akagi with his brother, clearing the corner at a speed no local had seen yet.  
  
Until the hachi-roku hit the corner. With blinding speed he approached the corner, causing those on the outside lane to back up for cover in fear of the hachi-roku having lost control. As the car acclerated out, drawing to within a centimeter of the inner gutter and guardrails, the car zoomed out.  
  
"Oh my god, did you see that?!" screamed someone in the gallery.  
  
"I did, but I don't believe it! The RedSuns guy cleared that corner faster than I've ever seen, and that hachi-roku just blew THAT away!"  
  
"It's not possible! I'm dreaming, cause I don't believe it!"  
  
Nobody disbeleved it more than Keisuke, who was watching the hachi-roku gain on his rear view mirror. "What the hell!? It's just been one corner! There's no way my FD can lose to such an old car!"  
  
-At the summit, Ryosuke realized to himself that the monster wasn't the car, it was the driver...and he was the most fearsome monster he had ever encountered.  
  
Itsuki, however, was pressuring Ikatani for answers. "How could you do that, send Takumi's dad to race him!?"  
  
Ikatani smilled. "Our boss told us that the fastest on Akina was an old hachi-roku that delivers tofu every morning. It just so happened that Takumi's dad owned a tofu shop and an old hachi-roku. And the air he seems to give off...I believe he can do it."  
  
"Yea, but..." It was clear Itsuki wasn't buying into this. "In that thing?"  
  
-Only 4 turns in and the FD found the hachi-roku riding his bumper. "Damnit," Keisuke exclamed. "Even if I completly power out in the straight, I don't gain enough and he just gets it right back on each corner!" As he spoke exactly that happened, the few precious meters he had managed to gain almost instantly vanished. "I can't lose him!"  
  
Behind the wheel of the hachi-roku Bunta performed the miracle manuevers he had down so well it was more reflex than anything else. "This kid's not bad," he thought. "He could be great...but he's got a lot to learn first." Approaching the next hairpin, a big right hander, he decided to make his move.  
  
Keisuke instinctivly pressed the brakes to their limits and prepared to corner, but the hachi-roku pulled up directly behind him. "Damn! He's pressuring me! But I won't crack...I can't!" Just before he could start his turn the hachi-roku cut to the inside behind him, speeding towards the inside.  
  
"Too fast..." Keisuke thought. "He's gonna crash and take me with him..."  
  
THUNK. The wheels of the hachi-roku entered the gutter, unseen to Keisuke or anyone in the galleries. All they saw was an extremely graceful inside pass that had Keisuke so stunned he heavily understeered the corner. As he recovered he saw the hachi-roku leaving him behind. It took him almost a full second to realize that he had been passed with almost no room on the inside-the hachi-roku must of drawn within 3 cm of his own FD.  
  
"No you don't..." he thought as he floored his car, hoping to gain on his opponent. Being the longest straight of Akina, he managed to get within a few meters. "My FD was built for these mountain roads! I won't lose!"  
  
The two cars entered and exited the next hairpin, the hachi-roku taking even more of a lead than it did off the last corner. Fustrated Keisuke realized he had to go all out just to keep up, and started to doubt his own victory.  
  
-"Here they come," Nakazato said. Two hairpins up, RedSuns members put the call out to Ryosuke. "Ok, we see them....NANI!? The hachi-roku is leading!"  
  
"Leading?" Ryosuke was in a state of disbelief. "You're kidding."  
  
"No...by a huge gap! That's got to be at least 4 seconds between the hachi- roku and Keisuke!"  
  
Still shocked, he managed to ask for a play by play, but by the time he did the hachi-roku was already out of sight 3 hairpins away. Keisuke had bairly begun to enter the five consectutive hairpins.  
  
Nakazato almost fell down with the sheer amazement of watching the hachi- roku corner in front of him. He had seen in enter the gutter-he hadn't blinked through the entire turn, yet his hunch that the hachi-roku driver was something amazing was more than right. After what seemed like an eternity the FD rounded the same corner.  
  
"It's over," Nakazato declared. "Keisuke can't see the hachi-roku anymore and has given up. It dosen't matter now if the RedSuns win tonight's race...it was decided here." He started to chuckle as he walked towards his car. "I've finally found an opponent worthy of racing my R-32!"  
  
As the hachi-roku crossed the finish line, the call came up again. "The hachi-roku won!" an excited SpeedStars member shouted. "He won! By a split time of 9 seconds against Keisuke!"  
  
As the group of SpeedStars on the summit cheered, Ryosuke got into his car and drove to the bottom to meet Keisuke. "Amazing...to beat Keisuke by 9 seconds...he must be a god of racing. I'll have to study his racing more."  
  
-Pulling back into the parking for his shop Bunta climbed out of his car, a fresh cigarette lit. Takumi came downstairs. "Did you go drinking again, dad?"  
  
Bunta looked at him funny for a moment. "No, not tonight. I just wanted to go for a little drive," before taking another drag. "I haven't done that in years..." he thought. "These kids aren't bad." 


End file.
